Changes for the Better
by EmPro8
Summary: After having a fight with her son, Maddie Fenton goes to the park to clear her mind. But when she finds a sad Danny Phantom there, she gets a little bit more than she asked for. This story is neither a reveal or your average mother/son bonding story. Rated T for slight, slight mention of suicidal thoughts. But it's very light, in my opinion. More explanation at the bottom. Oneshot.


**Hi guys! Here's my first Danny Phantom story. I barely ever watched Danny Phantom when I was little, so I really don't have a very solid idea of their personalities. I was just into Danny Phantom mother/son bonding fanfiction, and I found out there aren't a lot of those stories that weren't reveal. So I made my own. Hope you enjoy it!**

Maddie Fenton was driving her van to the park. She needed to clear her mind. Danny and Maddie have been fighting more and more often. Danny was becoming more distant. She hardly ever saw him anymore. He was either at his friends' house or at the library. Or so he said. He hardly ever came at curfew. Actually, she was surprised if he came home on _time_. At this point, he didn't even seem to care anymore. He took the lectures and went straight to bed. He was tired _all_ the time now. He had problems with falling asleep during class. Jack has been lecturing him too. When they lectured or grounded him, Danny would either snap at them or stare with a vacant expression. Sometimes he snapped for no reason. He wouldn't even let Jazz talk to him.

Maddie told Jack she was just going to test out a few new ghost inventions at the park, but she just wanted to sit on the bench and have some alone time. That's all she wanted.

She parked the van. The park was empty. It was nearly midnight. Everything was calm.

Or so it seemed.

Maddie saw a green glow coming from behind a tree. _Ghost,_ Maddie thought.

Maddie silently grabbed her blaster, her worries now temporarily gone. She slowly snuck around the tree and saw the one ghost she wanted most. _Danny Phantom._

She did a small intake of breath. Maddie raised her blaster at the ghost child. She was about to shoot him, but something stopped her. Was he… crying?

Phantom's shoulders were shaking with silent tears. She gasped. Ghost couldn't cry. They don't have feelings. Phantom heard the gasp, and he looked up with his unnaturally green eyes. At first they widened with fear, then they deflated. Phantom sighed and slumped against the tree, looking more defeated than ever. The silence lasted for ages as Maddie tried to figure out what to do next. Phantom was supposed to be fighting her. Running in fear. Creating havoc. But he wasn't. He was just sitting there, _allowing_ Maddie to shoot. It just didn't seem right. It was like killing a helpless baby bunny or something. It wasn't justified.

"Just shoot me already," he whispered.

"What?" Maddie was unsure if she heard correctly.

"Just shoot. Take me to your lab. Tear me apart molecule by molecule. I don't care anymore."

Maddie started to notice things about Phantom. He looked beyond tired and his usual cocky demeanor was gone. He looked depressed and there was a long gash going up his arm. She now realized that he was covered in cuts and bruises that were already healing, but still looked pretty bad. Before she could stop herself, she asked, "What happened to you?"

Danny hung his head in shame. "I was fighting a ghost. I lost. I barely escaped."

"Oh." She started to feel guilty. He looked really beat up. But then she shook her head. This was a _ghost_ she was talking about. Danny Phantom no less. "I'm going to have to take you back to the lab."

Danny sighed. He was in no condition to fight. He slowly tried to get to his feet, but collapsed in a groan. He started to cry. "I just want it to end," he whispered.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I want to die," he cried.

Maddie took a step back in surprise, but quickly regained her posture, "Ghost can't die."

Danny hesitated before saying, "They can be wiped from existence."

Maddie knew this. But why would a ghost be willing to give up an eternity of 'living'? Maddie didn't even know that ghosts can think this deeply. Maddie had an internal argument. She could either shoot him now and take him to the lab, or listen to him. _This is probably all a trick,_ Maddie thought, but her curiosity won in the end. "Why on Earth would you want to do that?" she sneered, trying to show that she didn't really care."

Danny shook his head, seeming saddened by the tone in Maddie's voice. "My life… is complicated. So full of lies a-and disappointment. I'm fighting _all_ the time now, I can't even sleep anymore. I don't fit in with ghosts… I d-don't fit in with humans… I don't even f-fit in with my own f-f-family…" He broke down in sobs.

 _A family? How is that even possible?_ "You have a family?"

Danny seemed to have realized what he said. "I had a family. Before I d-died."

"How did you die?" the question came tumbling out. She didn't even try to say it, it just came out.

Phantom hesitated. "I was electrocuted."

"Oh," then a thought hit Maddie that never came to her before. Phantom was a kid once. He probably went to school, had a girlfriend, had dreams, and had a _life._ The thought seemed obvious, but it just never occurred that way to Maddie before. Danny was once a kid. A normal teenager. Then one day, he was electrocuted and started his life as a ghost. He probably would have been good friends with her own little boy, Danny. At that thought, she turned from ghost hunter to mother in only a few seconds. She sat down next to the ghost, and Danny flinched. "I'm sorry about your death."

Danny looked up at surprise, then looked back down. "Yeah, I am too."

There was a moment of silence. "Why didn't you fit in with your family?"

Danny seemed reluctant to answer the question, but seemed too tired to fight against answering. "I am… was, I mean… a disappointment to them."

"How?"

"I was trying my hardest. My life was just really complicated, and they didn't understand what was going on. We figh—fought daily. I tried my hardest. I really did. I just couldn't…" he broke down in silent sobs, and he looked away.

After some hesitation, Maddie spoke, "My son, Danny… he keeps coming home after curfew and skipping his classes. He's a smart kid. I know it. He just seems really distant lately. He's tired all the time and we fight a lot. If he can just tell me what is going on… I can help him. But he just doesn't tell me. I'm his mother. I care about him. He just doesn't seem to realize that. I instantly think the worse about him. I don't know what's going on! He could be on drugs… or in a-a gang… or ma-maybe even b-b-bullies are…" Maddie broke off, tears slipping down her cheeks. She covered her mouth and looked away, ashamed to be crying in front of the enemy.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw Danny Phantom trying to comfort her. "Don't worry about your son. He's doing okay."

Maddie sniffled, "How do you know?"

"I—I just… I just know." Maddie looked down, clearly uncertain. "Look, Maddie. I've seen your son. He's a good kid. He has great friends, and a great family," Danny put on a weak smile, "don't push him. He's just going through some tough things. He'll tell you about it when he's ready."

Maddie nodded numbly, "I just hope he's okay."

Danny heaved a sigh. After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "Do you really love him? Would you love him if he turned into, say… just hypothetically… a hideous monster or creepy ghost or something?"

Maddie didn't even hesitate. "He's my son. I'll love him no matter what happens. I'll try everything in my power to do what's best for him."

Danny nodded. "As long as he knows that, I'm sure he'll be fine."

Maddie, before she knew what she was doing, hugged Danny Phantom. Danny was stiff for a few moments, but eventually returned the hug. They sat there for a few moments, under a tree in park of Amity Park. Ghost hunter and ghost. Human and spirit. Mother and son.

They finally pulled away from each other, wiping old and fresh tears from their eyes. Maddie stood up, "Thanks Phantom. You really helped me."

Danny shook his head, "No, thank you, Maddie Fenton. You helped me more than you may ever realize."

Maddie smiled. "I hope you won't think any more of those suicidal thoughts. I won't be able to chase you anymore."

Phantom smiled back, "Nah, those are gone now. I was just having a bad week."

Maddie looked at the nearly completely healed wounds. "You sure you're all right? I can help you with your wounds."

Phantom shook his head and stood, "I'm fine now. I'll get by."

"I hope you know that this changes nothing between us."

Danny's smile faltered for just only a moment. "Not at all. I'll be way too bored without you chasing me."

"Until next time, Phantom." Maddie climbed into her vehicle.

Phantom gave an exaggerated bow, "Until next time." He flew off into the night, and Maddie started to drive away. Her troubled mind was at ease now, but new questions were rising.

Did Phantom really feel… feelings? They felt sincere. But ghost can't feel. Perhaps they were the shadows of his emotions when he died, and as a ghost he still 'feels' them.

But that didn't seem right. She realized long ago that Danny Phantom wasn't like other ghost, but she never dreamed of him being _this_ different.

Maddie shook her head. She'll worry about that later. The first thing she will do when she gets home is sit down and have a long delayed talk with her son. She will not pester him about his whereabouts, and she will not give him a lecture either, but she'll apologize to him for her behavior, and just snuggle him for a few moments. Who knows, maybe they could go see a movie the next day, or go out to lunch.

Maddie smiled. That Phantom kid had really helped her. Even though she said things won't be different, she knew that was a lie. She will never be able to look at him with that same loathing and fear and interest she used to feel. Things have changed, and for once in Maddie's life, maybe it was for the better.

 **Yep! There you go! Sorry if they're OC, but like I said, I barely ever watched the shows. But remember, when people are sad, they sometimes act differently. And Danny's suicidal thoughts weren't serious. He wouldn't ever** ** _try_** **anything. It's just at that point, if he knew that he was going to die, and there was no way out of it, then he'd be fine. If you liked this, I'm doing a Percy Jackson and Gravity Falls crossover. I'm as proud of that story as I am of this story. So, yep! Constructive criticism is appreciated. I really enjoyed writing this. Hope you liked it as much as I did. I do not own Danny Phantom, blah blah blah. It belongs to it's creators and whatever company those creators work for.**


End file.
